Abstract
While academic research has mainly focused on how legacy media organisations conduct their general news production work, fewer studies have focused on specialised practices such as investigative journalism in relation to innovation and technology. Scholars, however, have observed that news production is increasingly taking place outside the newsroom. In this context, the present article explores the ways in which emerging media organisations innovate and adapt practices of watchdog journalism within their staffs and facilities. Its case studies include a co-op that seeks to engage ordinary citizens in production; a collaborative data desk that aims to professionalise a variety of actors, including local journalists, citizen journalists, activists, hackers, developers and media organisers; and a global tech company that seeks to produce investigative journalism with national but also global resonance.
Highlights
Recent studies have indicated that the ‘lone wolf’ era of investigative journalism is coming to an end, as watchdog journalism is reconstructed across borders with a special focus on collaboration, digital technology and networking (Berglez & Gearing, 2019; Konow-Lund, Gearing, & Berglez, 2019; Sambrook, 2018; Lewis, 2018; Alfter, 2019)
This article draws in particular upon process innovation as the means through which emerging organisations produce investigative journalism, but it draws upon paradigmatic innovation, in the sense that today’s news workers are compelled to revisit legacy mindsets, values and business models. The focus on these aspects of media-related innovations is chosen as a consequence of asking how investigative journalism is being reconstructed in terms of both changing technologies, new practices and values
Some researchers emphasise that BuzzFeed has always cultivated digital experimentation aimed at a viral impact, but investigative journalism remains the gold standard for the organisation
Summary
Recent studies have indicated that the ‘lone wolf’ era of investigative journalism is coming to an end, as watchdog journalism is reconstructed across borders with a special focus on collaboration, digital technology and networking (Berglez & Gearing, 2019; Konow-Lund, Gearing, & Berglez, 2019; Sambrook, 2018; Lewis, 2018; Alfter, 2019). This article draws in particular upon process innovation as the means through which emerging organisations produce investigative journalism, but it draws upon paradigmatic innovation, in the sense that today’s news workers are compelled to revisit legacy mindsets, values and business models The focus on these aspects of media-related innovations is chosen as a consequence of asking how investigative journalism is being reconstructed in terms of both changing technologies, new practices and values. The journalistic co-op Bristol Cable, the local-national data desk Bureau Local and the tech company BuzzFeed all developed very untraditional perspectives on the newsroom and respond well to the research gap around emerging organisations and the implementation of new practices of investigative journalism (Moe & Syversten, 2007). This article is based upon eight weeks of field observation at the aforementioned two newsrooms, plus the semi-structured qualitative interviews
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